-Use compact flourescent bulbs
-turn off unnecessary electrical devices when you leave the room for more than 15 minutes
-Put computer in sleep mode
-Unplug electronics when not in use
-Use natural light whenever possible
-Pull window shades at night in winter and during the day in summer

Tips for Sustainability

Bring your own mug to the café.
IMPACT: Every year, Americans drink more than 100 billion cups of coffee; of those, 14.4 billion are served in disposable paper cups ... enough to wrap the entire earth 55 times end-to-end! Source: www.ecofriendlycup.com

Bring reusable bags to the grocery store.
IMPACT: If Californians cut their plastic bag waste in half,
it would save over 2,000 barrels of oil a day – over 800,000 barrels a year – and keep 73,000 tons of rubbish out of our landfills. Source

Turn off lights, microwaves, or any other electric devices when you leave the room or house.
IMPACT: You can save over ½ million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions every year by turning off your lights for an hour per day. Source: www.sustainability.uts.edu.au/toptentips.html#tip10

That funny looking light bulb can make a huge difference: Replacing one incandescent light bulb with an energy-saving compact fluorescent bulb means 1,000 pounds less carbon dioxide is emitted to the atmosphere and $67 dollars is saved on energy costs over the bulb's lifetime. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Alliance to Save Energy

Power down: “For example, if all the world’s 1 billion PC’s were powered down for just one night – it would save enough energy to light up New York City’s Empire State Building – inside and out – for more than 30 years” Source: 1E Energy Awareness Campaign

Slow Down! Reducing your speed to 55 mph from 65 mph may increase your fuel efficiency by as much as 15 percent; cut it to 55 from 70, and you could get a 23 percent improvement. National Geographic Society, Green Guide

Eat Local Foods: In North America, fruits and vegetables travel an average of 1,500 miles before reaching your dinner table. Buy local whenever possible. National Geographic Society, Green Guide

Buy in Bulk: Packaging makes up a third of all garbage tossed in the U.S. To cut down on waste, avoid single-serving foods and beverages. Instead, buy items in bulk and portion them out into reusable containers. National Geographic Society, Green Guide

The American Association of Wine Economists estimates global greenhouse gas emissions from wine production and distribution to be 5,336,600 tons—roughly the same amount that one million passenger vehicles would emit in a year. What can you do? Buy bigger bottles or in bulk to cut back on the carbon spent for shipping. National Geographic Society, Green Guide

Plant a Tree: Trees help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that 100 billion metric tons of carbon over the next 50 years could be sequestered through forest preservation, tree planting and improved agricultural management. Chicago Tribune

Get a Reusable Water Bottle: Americans buy 28 billion single-serving plastic water bottles every year, and 80% of those end up in landfills, according to the Container Recycling Institute. Meeting the nation's demand for bottle water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year, the Earth Policy Institute estimates. Chicago Tribune

Wash in Cold Water: Washing your clothes in cold or warm water instead of hot saves 500 pounds of carbon dioxide a year, according to climatecrisis.net. Drying your clothes on a clothesline six months out of the year would save another 700 pounds. Source: Chicago Tribune

Recycling aluminum saves energy: Creating a new aluminum can from scratch takes 95% more energy than making a can from recycled aluminum. Source: Earth911

Think before you toss: America is the queen of trash. Every day in the U.S., we produce enough trash to equal the weight of the Empire State Building. We throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour, produce enough styrofoam cups annually to circle the earth 436 times and trash enough office paper to build a 12-foot wall form Los Angeles to New York City. We throw away 570 disposable diapers each second, and toss out enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months. Each year we fill enough garbage trucks to stretch from Earth halfway to the moon. Source: http://webecoist.com

Recycle Your Cell Phone: In the United States alone, 120 million cell phones are thrown away each year. Recycle your cell phone at www.onemillioncellphones.com and the profits will be used to microfinance loans to the poor, not to mention saving the environment from harmful e-waste. One million cell phones recycled equals 350 trillion gallons of water saved from pollution and 100 thousand people helped.

45% of the 21 million barrels of oil the U.S. consumes every day come out of tailpipes. That’s almost 10 million barrels a day, six million of them imported. Source: www.solveclimate.com

CO2 emissions from U.S. coal-based electricity are greater than emissions from all the cars and trucks in America. Source: "GHG Emissions and Sinks 1990-2006," U.S. EPA 2008

Only 1% of China’s 560 million city residents breathe air that is considered safe by the European Union. And, this severe air pollution problem, which has led to cancer becoming China’s leading cause of death, is no longer affecting the Chinese people alone. China’s dirty air is spreading across the globe as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by the country’s many factories and coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain upon South Korea and Japan. The heavy brown clouds of pollution that hover over Asia are now spreading as far as to the west coast of the U.S. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China. Source: http://webecoist.com

The U.S. Consumes More Energy: In 1997, U.S. residents consumed an average of 12,133 kilowatt-hours of electricity each, almost nine times greater than the average for the rest of the world. Source: Grist Magazine

Human Impact: On average, 16 million tons of carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere every 24 hours by human use worldwide. Source: U.S. Department of Energy

Solar Panels: For the 2 billion people without access to electricity, it would be cheaper to install solar panels than to extend the electrical grid. Source: The Fund for Renewable Energy Everywhere

Wind Power = More Jobs: An investment in wind power produces almost three times as many jobs as the same investment in coal power. And an investment in solar power produces almost four times as many jobs, and energy efficiency, almost thirty times as many jobs as coal power. Source: Based on analysis of the new energy economy released by Earth Policy Institute, Nov. 2008

Tips to conserve energy:

Close draperies or shades after sunset to provide added insulation in cold weather. During the cold day: let sunlight in windows facing the sun by opening your shades. The solar energy helps keep your room warm and reduces heating needs.

Keep a full refrigerator! If you have little or no food in your refrigerator either unplug it or fill with water bottles to maximize energy efficiency. Cleaning the condenser coils found in the back or bottom of the refrigerator will maximize its efficiency. You can use a brush or vacuum. Be sure to unplug the refrigerator before you start cleaning.

Keep the refrigerator away from heating appliances like windows and heating ducts. Direct exposure to heat forces the unit to work harder and use more energy.

You can save energy dollars by using hot water only for heavily soiled laundry. Select cold water for most of your laundry needs. Ninety percent of the energy your washer uses goes toward heating water. Run the washer only when you have a full load of laundry to save energy and water.

When using the dryer, remember to check the lint filter before each load. Lint buildup blocks airflow and lengthens drying time, increasing energy use.

Turn off lights when no one is in the room (including bathrooms.)

Exchange or purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs. They use less energy than incandescent and last longer.

Use less water! Take shorter showers, try to cut your shower time in half, or limit it to under 5 minutes. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth.

Eliminate Wasted Energy: turn off appliances, lights, and equipment when not in use. Don't forget to turn computers and printers off at the power strip! Phantom Load, or the energy used while appliances are turned off accounts for a huge amount of energy we consume. Enable energy-saving features on your monitor and personal printer

When feasible, use stairs rather than the elevator

To conserve energy purchase a "smart" power strip to automatically turn off equipment

Students and faculty alike use classrooms and computer labs, therefore it's all our responsibility to take care of them. In order to conserve energy, if you are the last one to leave the classroom, turn off the lights.

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